The secret of Penny’s surname has followed the show around since Season 1. And at this year’s San Diego Comic Con Big Bang Theory panel, it came up again. Kaley Cuoco, the actress who plays Penny, addressed the mystery — well, sort of.

"I have it in my head what I think that it is, but now I’m Penny Hofstadter, so it doesn’t matter what it is."

That feels like a little bit of a convenient answer. Penny married Leonard Hofstadter at the beginning of Season 9 and took his name. After all this time we’ve still never found out Penny’s maiden name, even though all the main male characters on the show have full names. You know, like real people.

"You know, I don't think we will [reveal it]. We're kind of a superstitious lot here. We've made it this far without knowing Penny's last name. I think we're good not finding out."

At this point, the running bit feels kind of lazy. Why are the showrunners stripping Penny of a pretty basic character moment? Surely there are jokes or superstitions the writers can find that don’t come off as a little misogynist?

We’ll keep holding our breath that Penny’s last name gets a grand reveal this season to make up for it.